(June 20, 2010) Fan Xiao, Chief engineer of the Regional Geology Investigation Team of the Sichuan Geology and Mineral Bureau, says dams were the real trigger of a massive landslide in Kangding County in China’s southwestern Sichuan province.
Expert—Hydropower Plant May Have Triggered Deadly Landslide in Sichuan, China
(June 18, 2010) Geologist Fan Xiao says recent landslides in China’s southwestern Sichuan province may have been caused by nearby dams.
Giant dams mess with global sea level rise
(June 18, 2010) Michael Reilly, writing in Discovery News, says massive dams are altering the global sea level.
Sudden sinkhole outbreak raises fears in China
(June 17, 2010) China is suffering from a sudden rise in sinkholes, writes Li Hui in The Epoch Times.
Huang Wanli’s predictions for the Three Gorges come to pass
(June 12, 2010) Huang Wanli, renowned hydraulics engineer and Tsinghua University lecturer, first voiced his opposition to the large-scale damming of rivers by opposing the construction of the Sanmenxia dam in 1957. In the 1980s he became a vocal opponent of the Three Gorges project and contributed to Yangtze! Yangtze!, the important critique of the dam compiled by China’s celebrated investigative journalist, Dai Qing. Now, as the Three Gorges dam is beset by monumental operational problems, Huang Wanli’s prescient analysis helps explain why it was a mistake to build the biggest dam in the world. Read his 1993 interview with Dai Qing.
Migrants “happy” to be resettled says China’s state-run media
(June 11, 2010) The more than 60-thousand Chinese citizens who will be pushed off of their land to make way for a massive South-North Water Diversion project are, according to one government official, ‘eager to move.’
Jailed China earthquake activist’s appeal declined
(June 9, 2010) Amnesty International has condemned Wednesday’s court decision to uphold a five year sentence imposed on a Chinese activist who tried to publicize the number of children who died during the Sichuan earthquake and the corruption that led to their deaths.
It’s official: global warming solutions will destroy the environment
(June 8, 2010) Solutions to solve global warming may actually cause more environmental damage.
Beijing residents worry their city is running out of water, looking to government for action
(June 5, 2010) Three-quarters of those interviewed in a recent survey about Beijing’s water crisis say that they are concerned about the capital city’s water shortages and that they feel pollution and overexploitation of water are to blame. The survey, commissioned by Friends of Nature, China’s oldest environmental organization, was released in Beijing today, World Environment Day.
Trampled under the foot of development: Chinese citizens fight for fair compensation
(June 4, 2010) Chinese citizens being forcefully evicted from their homes are continuing their fight to receive fair compensation from developers and local officials. A month after homeowners were pushed from their homes to make way for the Pubugou dam reservoir in China’s Sichuan province, 700 homeowners in Beijing’s Laogucheng neighbourhood are refusing to leave—even as they face assaults by window-smashing thugs—until they receive fair compensation from a powerful developer.
Three Gorges: Privatizing the profits, socializing the costs
(June 3, 2010) A recent restructuring by China’s Yangtze Power Co., the Shanghai-listed subsidiary of the Three Gorges Project Development Corporation, will see the company acquire full ownership of the only profitable part of the controversial dam—the generators—while assuming little-to-none of the environmental and social costs.
Landslides and seismic activity rock Three Gorges reservoir
(June 1, 2010) As the rainy season arrives and the Three Gorges reservoir is lowered, the controversial project is once again making headlines. This time, it’s because of the increasing number of landslides and seismic activity occurring along the 410-mile long reservoir.
Yangtze! Yangtze! Named one of the best books about water
(May 28, 2010) In a recent interview, Johnny Grimond, a writer-at-large for The Economist said Dai Qing’s “Yangtze! Yangtze!” was one of the best books about water. Mr. Grimond said that Ms. Dai “has written courageously about China’s dams and rivers.”
Nile countries continue fight over water
(May 26, 2010) The countries that share the Nile River basin – Uganda, Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda, Burundi and Democratic Republic of Congo – are tired of Egypt, and to a lesser extent Sudan, dictating the terms of the river water’s usage. The upriver countries recently signed a water-sharing agreement more favourable to their interests that then created a diplomatic standoff with Egypt.
Zero responsibility politics, Chinese style
(May 24, 2010) Qian Zhengying, who held office as the Minister of Water Resources for nearly 40 years, admitted in an interview with the Asia Weekly in April that the drought in South Western China and South East Asia was caused by China’s over-exploitation of water resources.
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